But what if your cage-free eggs came from hens that weren't able to go outside? Or from factory farms that look more like an industrial plant than a quaint pasture? Worse yet, how would you feel if the hens producing cage-free eggs were actually still in cages—albeit roomier ones? As paradoxical as it might sound, all of these options still fit the bill for cage-free egg classification, and this is one of the many reasons why different egg classifications are so hard to figure out. There are so many different (and sometimes meaningless) labels.

If you want to get thoroughly confused, ponder the definition of cage-free eggs. As it stands now, the baseline for what constitutes as cage-free eggs is one square foot of space per hen. This classification makes no requirement for hens to have access to the outdoors. Most puzzlingly, it doesn't exclude farmers from using larger cages and confinement systems, known as furnished (or enriched) cages. So cage-free eggs could indeed come from hens kept in cages. In fact, the government's cage-free standard is so definitionally thin that most egg producers opt for something called third-party certification, which provides an additional layer of scrutiny (and additional consumer confidence) for their goods.

And just like that, science threw a wrench in your ethical grocery list.

So if you're still feeling stumped about the most ethical, cruelty-free egg designation out there, don't fret. Anything is better for the hens than a farm with battery-style cages—even if the alternatives were not created equally. After all, the real reason McDonald's and other companies went cage-free was due to customer demand. The cost behind an industry shift toward cage-free eggs isn't cheap: Farmers spend anywhere from $30 to $60 per hen to convert their battery-style facilities into cage-free facilities, meaning that most egg farms will fork over $60 million before all is said and done. So even if the notion of an enhanced cage doesn't make you feel great (but a $5 carton of free-range eggs isn't in your budget), know that your carton confusion is contributing to a solution that is cleaning up the poultry industry, one dozen eggs at a time.